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Haha I like Bulk! Reminds me of the character on Power Rangers, used to love that when I was little

haha the first series was awesome loved the Dinozords lol. back on topic im loving the career so far SnakeXe its making me want to try Italy once ive taken Dover as far as i can in my game. Good luck in Serie A!!

Here's Bulk in all his glory - he's bumped his strength up to 2, guess he's been working out!

Thanks bently, my biggest save last year was one with Merthy Tydfil in the lower (and eventually upper) English leagues and, Italy has been quite a gentle introduction to a different league system. Would definitely recommend it

After the numerous improvements in the squad, I was hoping we'd get some improvement in the points return. After an opening day win at home against Sampdoria, we lost the next four games. Not as bad as it sounds, as we had Inter, Roma and AC Milan in that sequence, losing narrowly in the one game I thought we could get something from, Genoa away. We then thumped fellow promotees Torino 4-0 to lift spirits, only to be sent packing by Juventus by the same margin in the next game. 2 slightly unfortunate losses to Atalanta and Parma followed, including a disastrous cruciate ligament rupture for star centreback Bruno Fernandez - just before a sequence of winnable games - typical! He's out for a whole year

3 wins and 3 draws in the next 6 matches shot us up the table to 11th place, before Palermo gave us a shocking reality check by demolishing us 5-1. We followed this with a worse result - 4-1 away to fellow relegation candidates Cagliari, a real kick in the nads. A decent 1-1 draw against Catania closed out the year, with a respectable 19 points from 18 games leaving us 14th in the table, 5 points away from the relegation zone.

We definitely need another centreback with physical prowess in the transfer window, as Cagliari won by absolutely dominating us in the air. I've identified a few, so hopefully we can get someone in. Really pleased with how the season has gone so far, but I can see us needing a similar total from the second half of the season in order to stay up, so we can't afford to slack off at all.

Yeah the Fernandez injury was a real blow, especially the timing of it - fit for all the games we were definitely going to lose, injured for the ones we might get something from! Still, his replacement Marino did his best, and we got the results we needed in general. Just have to hope Fernandez is still the same player when he comes back.

Story of the Season:Serie A - 7th, Qualified for Europa LeagueA similarly shakey start to last year wasn't a disaster, despite 7 losses from the opening 9 games, as the other 2 were wins, and I felt we only really should have targetted a point or two from the other 7, against the likes of AC Milan, Inter, Roma, and Juventus as they were. We then had a good little run of form, with 3 wins and 3 draws from the next 6 to lift us clear of the relegation zone, before a couple of painful defeats to Palermo and Cagliari knocked us back to earth. A decent draw with Catania finished off the year for us.

The first game back after the winter break was at home to Lazio, and we claimed a brilliant 2-1 win to close off the 19 game half season with 22 points, just 2 short of our full total from our first season in Serie A! We were, however, coming up to the reverse fixtures of the run of 7 losses from 9, so I wasn't going to get carried away yet. However, where we had lost before to Genoa, AC Milan, Juventus, Parma and Atalanta, we picked up 2 wins and 3 draws.

A changeable patch of form hit us for the next few games, with 2 losses, a draw and a win, but then something remarkable happened. Everything clicked. I suddenly knew what to do tactically in every situation we found ourselves in. We put together a ridiculous 6 game winning streak to finish off the season!

The pick of the results was an incredible 2-0 away win over last year's Serie A and European Champions, Palermo, with the 1-0 away against Lazio to complete the double over them a close second. This remarkable run snuck us up into 7th, a position we had not occupied all season, and quite unbelievably, brought Europa League football to Messina for next season!

The second half of the season brought us 34 points, extrapolated over the whole season that's Champions League qualification form. Absolutely unbelievable, Jeff.

Coppa Italia- 1st RoundGot to the first round proper for the first time ever, then the stiffs lost to Catania.

Transfers - £7.4m Loss
Spread the cash nice and thinly, with Mario Quiroga my biggest signing at £3.5m. He was definitely worth it though, adding class and verve to the midfield. Of all the signings, only Welliton didn't make a big impact, but that's because Petrillo was so awesome. Heading out were a whole load of youth players plus a couple of wingers not good enough for Serie A in Ruben and Diego Farias.

5 Most Important Players:
5. Justin Turon - D/WBRL - Is here to represent our whole defence really, as they all played well, but he had the most games.
4. Nicola Ravaglia - GK - Such a difference having a capable goalkeeper. Even inspired Vigorito to respectability when he was injured. 3. Filippo Vitone- AMRC - Suffered in the earlier part of the season from being branded our dangerman, I took him out of the firing line when I could as I had decent cover in Ljajic. Really stepped it up in the latter part of the season though, winning us a couple of games by himself. 2. Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Might be a DM by trade, but he was incredible in the Support slot in central midfield, creating beautiful triangles with the winger and fullback going forward. Scored some great goals arriving late in the box, played some wonderful passes for assists, genuinely top class. 1. Abel Petrillo - ST - I think he must just like it up here, scored even more goals than he did in Serie B! A Messina legend at the age of 21, I'm very lucky to have him, and will do so for 4 more years after he signed a new deal!History:

Next Season:Well to be honest I don't think we really were the 7th best team in the league this year, so I doubt we'll repeat that unless the board really let loose the purse strings. I guess we should aim high though, so I'll go for a top half finish in the league, and qualification from the group stage in the Europa League.
Forza Messina!

Last edited by SnakeXe; 26-11-2010 at 17:30.
Reason: Fixed the link to Quiroga

Excellent work SnakeXe. Have caught up on this and you've made Serie A look easy this season. DO you think you'll be able to sustain an attack on the European front as well or are you just gonna use it as experience?

It almost entirely depends on what I'm given to spend really. We have a pretty decent first 11 now, but we're weak beyond that in quite a few positions, especially both fullbacks. A lot depends on whether Bruno Fernandez makes a full comeback as well, he's back in light training already, so he's ahead of schedule, but his stats have dropped quite a lot. A good £10m to go around and I'd say we can make a pretty decent run.

The season you got relegated was actually a blessing in disguise it appears.
Great, great season, but I've just noticed you never won Serie C1 or Serie B, wasn't that in your list of things to achieve at the start?

Congrats on a truly remarkable season SnakeXe. 7th is a great achievment. Are you going to spend big in the summer? What are you expectations for next year?

Just been given my budget/expectation options by the board, minimum was midtable. I thought about going for top half as I said in the update, but chickened out still gives me £12.5m to spend, of which I will likely use every penny

Originally Posted by Romanista1994

The season you got relegated was actually a blessing in disguise it appears.
Great, great season, but I've just noticed you never won Serie C1 or Serie B, wasn't that in your list of things to achieve at the start?

Edit- It wasn't.

Thanks! I was going to say we would have signed similar players anyway and progressed at the same sort of rate had we stayed up, but actually the season in Serie B allowed quite a few players to settle in, so it was indeed a blessing in disguise.

Winning the Serie C Cup was on my list, and I never quite managed that either...

The Squad: 2020
GoalkeepersMauro Vigorito - GK - Italy - Was vaguely competent when Ravaglia suffered an injury last year, there's life in the old dog yet.Nicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Very good.Borja - GK - Brought in a third keeper on loan, as competing in Europe as well it'd probably behoove me to have a backup backup.

DefendersMogi - DRC - Brazil - Good solid right back.Giorgos Samouilidis - D/WBR - Greece - Brought in on loan as a replacement for Avogadri, couldn't find anyone worth the cash for a permanent one.Jose Antonio Lopez Gomez - D/WBL - Spain - Seems to be good enough for backup still.Justin Turon - D/WBRL - France - Very solid.Antonio Marino - DLC - Italy - Did well last year when we were missing roughly our 3 best centre-backs.Nicolas - D/DM/MC - Spain - Definitely a backup, but versatility comes in use.Bruno Fernandez - DC - Argentina - Comparing him at the start of last season and this, it doesn't look like he's recovered from a horrific cruciate ligament rupture early last season. Big shame.Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - After a good loan spell last season, brought him in permanently to cover for Fernandez's decline.Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Signed in January last season, he also suffered from our centre-backs' injury curse, but did well when fit.

ForwardsAbel Petrillo - ST - Italy - Fantastic season last year, I had a few opportunities to sign what probably are better players over the summer, but I didn't. Probably should have, but I love this guy too much!Pietro Belfiore - ST - Italy - Getting slightly itchy feet due to lack of game time, but if Petrillo ever gets injured I know I can rely on him.Christian Benteke - ST - Belgium - Experience targetman, should give us a bit of tactical flexibility.LeaversStefano Avogadri - D/WBR - Italy - Retired.Leandro Grimi - DL - Argentina - Contract expired, went to Serie B.Emanuele Terranova - SW/DRC - Italy - Never particularly terrible, but no great loss.Juha-Matti Rautiainen - MC - Finland - Never quite developed his technique enough.Francesc Alcalde - AMLC/ST - Spain - Did well when required, but we've outgrown him now.
Welliton - AM/ST - Brazil - Retired and joined us as a coach.OverallThe name of the game this summer was adding quality in depth to the squad, and it looks like we've done a decent job of that. The number of injuries we're suffering already shows we'll need it with the Europa League campaign as well. Should be good for a top-half finish.

The new season started relatively early for us, with the Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round against Levadia Talinn beckoning. A 5-0 win in the home leg announced us on the European stage, and a 1-1 away draw was plenty to see us through to the 4th and final Qualifying Round against Omonia Nicosia. A slightly trickier proposition, we again drew 1-1 away before securing progress with a solid 1-0 win at home. Drawn in a group with Man City, Trabzonspor and Georgian minnows Zestaponi, we had a good chance of qualifying.

First though, the more mundane matters of Serie A. Juventus and Inter as our opening two was far from ideal, and we lost both narrowly 2-1. A couple of unlucky draws followed before our first win against Siena.

By then we'd blown apart Zestaponi 8-0 at home in the Europa League, but we couldn't take anything from the City of Manchester stadium, a narrow 1-0 loss slightly unfortunate. A couple more league wins helped us climb above the relegation zone, then a hefty 4-1 win over Trabzonspor gave me confidence we could take the second place in the group. A 3-0 loss in the return, however, was far from ideal. A 5-0 win over Zestaponi didn't change the fact that we needed a result from Man City in the final group game to get through - but my, we got it! A stunning 3-0 demolition was no better than we deserved, and we headed through to the knockout rounds in style!

The league form in between was mostly draws, with the odd win and very odd loss interspersed. All that left us 10th over the Winter Break, a very solid first half of the season behind us.

Congratz on getting to the knockout rounds, nice goal difference as well.

Going pretty well in the league considering you have to balance Europe with it now.

Thanks, yeah we're kind of in between the form of early and late last season, which is where I wanted us to be. Petrillo took the Serie A Young Player of the Year award, and I took the Manager of the Year, which is a nice touch - always used to just go to the manager who won the league on FM10.

Story of the Season:Serie A - 6th, Qualified for Europa LeagueAnother sticky start, with consecutive losses against Juventus and Inter, and a couple of draws against Parma and Sampdoria, was finally ended with a 2-0 win over Siena. From then on, it was mid-table form all the way, draws by the plenty, the odd win and rare loss. We were somewhat adrift in 10th place for much of the season, with a healthy cushion to the bottom half, but not quite catching the teams above us, until 9 games from the end we put together a run of 6 wins, 2 draws and a loss to take 6th place - one place and 3 points better than last season. Europa League football beckons for a second consecutive season!

Coppa Italia- Quarter FinalAutomatically skipped the qualifying rounds due to our involvement in Europe, beat lower league Pisa with a shadow side, then lost 2-0 to Milan in the next round.

Europa League - 1st Knockout RoundKnocked out Levadia Talinn 6-1 on aggregate in the 3rd Qualifying Round, before a tricky 2-1 win over Omonia Nicosia to take our place in the group stage.

We were drawn alongside Man City, Trabzonspor, and Zestaponi in a slightly tricky group, but our impressive home form - 3 wins from 3, 15 goals scored with only 1 against, was enough to take us through in second place behind the nouveaux riche English club.

Valencia lay in wait in the 1st Knockout Round, and the eventual semifinalists demolished us 5-1 on aggregate.

Transfers - £21.85m Loss
Didn't realise quite how much I spend this year, spreading it out over 48 months as I do. All decent signings coming in, Kooiman making his loan move from Ajax permanent, and general strengthening all round. Plenty of dead wood going out, plus the usual dirge from the youth system.

5 Most Important Players:
5. Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Did a great job at the centre of defence.
4. Jon Pagola - AMLC - Almost 1 assist every 2 games in his first season at the club is an impressive return. 3. Victor Amoruso- MC - Great return of goals and assists, really stepped up his play this year. 2. Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Amazing goal return from the Serbian winger, second highest scorer behind Petrillo. 1. Abel Petrillo - ST - Beat his own record for goalscoring with 22 this year, hopefully will bring in someone to take a bit of pressure off him over the summer.History:

Next Season:We're doing pretty well financially, but my highest weekly wage is just £14,500 per week at the moment. I have plenty of budget available to burst through that ceiling, but I don't really want to, as we could do with expanding the training and youth facilities first. Next season's objective, therefore, is to upgrade our facilities whilst retaining Europa League football.
Forza Messina!

The Squad: 2021
GoalkeepersMauro Vigorito - GK - Italy - 3rd choice now, didn't make an appearance last season.Nicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Didn't have such a great season with some silly mistakes costing us, hence Muslera.Fernando Muslera - GK - Uruguay - Ex-Lazio veteran signs after his old club were relegated, should get a good couple of seasons out of him.

After plenty of turnover in the squad in the summer, this season could have gone either way, and unfortunately so far it's gone badly. Injuries to Walter Aguero haven't helped, as he's only managed 9 appearances thus far, and perhaps unsurprisingly our major problem has been scoring enough goals when we're on top. I'd say probably every single one of the 8 draws in the league should have been wins, and would have been had we taken our chances. We had a little wobble in form when I started experimenting with tactics to try and get more goals, but going back to the 4-5-1 seemed to sort us out, so I'll be sticking with that for the rest of the year.

As for Europe, we dismissed Croatian side Rijeka 5-0 on aggregate in the 4th Qualifying Round, and ended up in a group with English giants Liverpool, Hannover and Lech. A 3-1 loss at Anfield wasn't the best start, but then consecutive wins over Hannover and Lech got us back on track. Two more disappointments followed, with a draw against Lech and a home loss against Liverpool, but Hannover failed to capitalise and we just needed a result against them to go through. A great 3-0 win away from home secured our passage to the next stage, where we will again face Valencia! Hopefully we won't get as badly beaten as we did last time

Of course, in order to get knocked out by Valencia again next year, we'll have to step it up in the league. I'm sure we'll do better as the new signings settle in and Aguero finds fitness, but whether we'll do enough to secure Europa League football again is a bit of a doubt at the moment.

I've just had the most ridiculous game away against Juventus. Every single challenge we put it the commentary said "That looked like a dive from <Juventus Player>. The referee is reaching for a card... It's yellow". Ridiculous. We were threatening to score and cause an upset, but the ref wasn't having that and sent off Quiroga for having the temerity to challenge for a header. Lost 2-0. Tempted to check their Staff listing for one "Moggi, L." now.

Story of the Season:Serie A - 9thThis was a weird season, to begin with we seemed to draw every bloody match, then in the second half of the season we'd go on a massive losing run, then a massive winning run, regardless of the quality of the opposition, with our form only becoming slightly normal towards the end of the season. As it is, we ended up in limbo on the last day, with the possibility of ending up anywhere between 6th and 11th depending on the day's results.

We were away against the side below us, Napoli, but we'd been performing well recently and I had high hopes we'd take a win to put pressure on the teams above us. As it was, we did play well, but couldn't break down the Neapolitan defence, ending with a 0-0. Sadly, we actually slipped down a place, as Udinese climbed above us on their superior head-to-head.

So, a sort of season of regression really, although it probably didn't deserve to be. We're performing better against the big teams, but becoming more complacent against the small ones. Think I might have to rethink my tactics or something.

Coppa Italia- Quarter FinalBeat rivals Catania with a resounding 4-1 win in the 1st Round before losing to Roma in the Quarter Final.

Europa League - 1st Knockout RoundAlmost a carbon copy of our first campaign, knocking out Eastern European opposition on the qualifiers, this time disposing of Croatian side Rijeka, before being drawn in a group with a big English club - for last season's Man City we had Liverpool.

The other two clubs in the group were Hannover and Lech, and luckily we were able to pick up enough points from them to get through the group in second place, because Liverpool tore us a new one home and away.

Surprise surprise, Valencia lay in wait in the 1st Knockout Round. Surprise surprise, they scored 5 goals against us and knocked us out again, before being knocked out in the Semi-Finals themselves. Again. I feel like Bill Murray.

Transfers - £26m Loss
Again, shocked at how much I ended up spending. I'm definitely going to have to dial it back next season as with all the transfer fees we're paying over 48 months we're starting to lose money. Best signing was probably Walter Aguero, despite his injury problems he brought a touch of class to proceedings, and for once we had a reliable penalty taker. Only outs were squad players who'd gotten old (Rossi, Marino, Ortiz) or were on stupid wages compared to their ability (Fernandez, Ismodes).

5 Most Important Players:
5. Yohan Sallaberry - AML - Deputised well for Pagola, shame they play in the same position.
4. Walter Aguero - ST - Did well enough to make me hopeful for next season, his injury problems stopped him from getting going so many times though. 3. Stefano Tulino- D/DM/MRC - The rock that holds our defence together. 2. Abel Petrillo - ST - Turned provider a lot more often this season, bringing his goal total down a little. Still managed to become our record goalscorer, and still a huge player for us. 1. Jon Pagola - AMLC - Cracked our record for assist making this year with a mighty 18.History:

The Squad: 2022
GoalkeepersMauro Vigorito - GK - Italy - Didn't make an appearance for a second successive season, probably won't make another before his contract expires at the end of the season. Don't think we really need 3 keepers.Nicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Stats-wise he looks probably slightly better than Muslera, as he's declined a bit, but the Uruguayan has the shirt, and it's up to him to keep it. Contract is up at the end of the season as well.Fernando Muslera - GK - Uruguay - I said a couple of good seasons, and that looks all we'll get as he's declined sharply over the last 12 months. His form hasn't suffered yet, but I won't be extending his contract at the end of the season.

DefendersJose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Portugal - Kept Mogi out of the team, better defensively than his stats suggest.Rocco Signore - D/WBR - Italy - Italy Under 19 fullback should become a great player.Justin Turon - D/WBRL - France - Still club captain, but not really first choice any more. Still useful though.Remi Thouvenin - DL - France - Had the shirt ahead of Turon most of last season, faces a real battle with Contento for it.Diego Contento - D/WB/ML - Italy - Our first Italian international! The ex-Palermo veteran still gets the odd game for the Azzuri these days, and he adds a great degree of experience to what is quite a young defence.Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - Hard to believe this guy is still only 22, must be on the verge of a full Dutch cap.Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Absolute rock last season.Arturo Zapater - DC - Spain - Hasn't let us down in his admittedly limited experience of first team action, great potential.Aurelien Maire - DC - France - Still 3rd choice, but doesn't play much as Kooiman and Tulino have made the positions their own.

MidfieldersFilippo Vitone - AMRC - Italy - Won a callup for Italy at the start of the season but didn't make it onto the pitch. One day.Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Serbia - Not quite as good of a season as last time round, but still a vital player.Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - AMR/ST - Gabon - Moaned about a lack of first team football, seemingly forgetting he was pretty rubbish when he did play.Jon Pagola - AMLC - Spain - Broke our record for assists last season, excellent player.Yohan Sallaberry - AML - France - Not sure where he stands with our new 4-3-1-2 system, but with 4-4-2 one of our alternatives he's still important.Mauricio Martin - D/DM/MC - Argentina - AC Milan were after him in the summer, let's hope he continues to show that sort of form.Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - Spain - Technically limited, his athletic ability means he's still a fantastic weapon to have off the bench.Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Argentina - Fell out with Mogi last season, I obligingly moved the fullback on in the summer but he's still upset with me for some reason. He's got 3 years to see sense though so I'm not worried yet.Victor Amoruso - MC - Italy - Classy midfielder, ball retention is excellent.Nenad Lukic - MLC - Serbia - Started promisingly but faded, hopefully he'll enjoy the 4-3-1-2.

ForwardsAbel Petrillo - ST - Italy - Added assists last year to improve his all round game, still the main man.Christian Benteke - ST - Belgium - Excellent supersub when the pace and movement of our other strikers isn't getting the job done.Walter Aguero - ST - Argentina - Injury problems stunted his progress last season repeatedly, let's hope he's past them.Gonzalo Valdez - ST - Argentina - We like an Argentine forward at Messina, and he looks good enough to keep their fine tradition going strongly.LeaversMogi - DRC - Brazil - Fell out with Quiroga and had a terrible season, got a tasty £4.2m for him.Nicolas - D/DM/MC - Spain - Would have kept him on but he wanted too much for a guy who isn't likely to get into double figures for appearances.OverallAll 3 keepers running their contracts down is a worry, but then I've already secured two transfers to come in to replace them, so it's probably okay. The only one who has a possibility to stay is Ravaglia. The change in system necessitated an extra striker on the books, and Valdez looks a great signing. Hopefully the benefits of keeping the squad relatively static will be enough to shoot us back into those European places.

Forza Messina! Let's hope this season takes you from mid-table to serious contender

I can only hope! I'd be glad to just stick in the European places all season, rather than sneak into them in the last match as I did the last couple of times.

Originally Posted by FMDownloader

Following!

I hope you succeed! On FM10, I was a Level 6 team, and it took me 19 years to win Serie A!

I think it took me a similar amount of time from Level 6 in England on FM10. It seemed a lot easier to challenge for a Champions League place then, we've never even challenged for the first 10 or 15 games and then fell away yet. Once you get the CL money it's a matter of time I find.

A good start to the season (for once) saw us pick up 8 points from our opening 4 matches, before we hit a sticky patch to drag us back down again. After that, though, we went on an awesome run of 9 wins from 11 in all competitions, firing us to 6th in the league and into the 1st Round of the Coppa Italia. The last game in that little run was my 500th game in management, a comfortable 2-0 win over rock-bottom Ascoli.

A couple of disappointing results (a draw at home to Napoli and a loss away at Bari) ended the year on a bit of an anti-climax, but we'd still had an excellent half-season. Dropping out of Europe may have been a blessing in disguise, as we've played 6 games less at this stage than we would have done if we'd qualified, and tired legs hurt us before. Hopefully that'll give us even more of a benefit in the new year, and we can push on for that 5th place.

The star, of course, has been Abel Petrillo, with 7 goals and 5 assists from 14 starts. We could do with a few more assists coming from midfield, our leading midfielder in that respect is Pagola with 3. Can't complain too much though, it's going very nicely!

Story of the Season:Serie A - 5th, Qualified for Europa LeagueAn excellent first half of the season left us 6th in the table at the turn of the year, but we really pushed on after that and found ourselves in 4th place for the first time all season with 10 games to go - Champions League qualification was suddenly on the cards! A couple of poor results saw us slip back, but an amazing 3-2 win over our closest rivals Juventus brought us back there with 6 to go.

Again, we couldn't capitalise, and slipped back to 5 points behind with just 2 to play. It seemed pretty hopeless for us to overhaul Juventus, but we'd keep trying to get results anyway. A great last minute header from Victor Amoruso secured an excellent win away at Napoli, and to our disbelief, brought us just 2 points behind Juventus after relegation candidates AlbinoLeffe took a wonderful victory from the Delle Alpi!Which meant that with just one game to go, we had a fantastic chance to qualify for the Champions League. Win against Lazio, and if AC Milan took anything off Juve at the San Siro, we'd make it due to our superior head-to-head record.

Juve won, and we could only manage a draw despite many, many chances to win it. A shame, but an honour to even be in the fight that late.

Coppa Italia- Semi FinalWe had to negotiate the qualifying rounds for the first time in a couple of years due to missing out on Europe, and we progressed through them without much bother, sending Serie C1 Salernitana and newly promoted Lazio packing. A surprise 3-1 defeat of AC Milan at the San Siro in the 1st Round was a bonus, which we took advantage of by beating Udinese 2-0 away in the Quarter Final. Last year's conquerors Roma lay in wait in the Semi Final, and they did the business again, beating us 2-1 home and away. A little more luck and it may have been the other way around. Still, it's our best ever performance in the competition, so I'm happy.

Transfers - £2.6m Profit
Having so many transfer fees backed up over 48 months of payments, I decided we had to scale back the spending this year, which we managed successfully. Contento and Valdez were both excellent frees, whilst only Mogi was really a first team candidate of the outs.

5 Most Important Players:
5. Victor Amoruso - MC - Our Xavi.
4. Rene Kooiman - DC - Slightly outshone his defensive partner Tulino, but they may as well both be here. 3. Diego Contento- D/WBL - Great free transfer, the Italian international defended well and got forward too. 2. Abel Petrillo - ST - Another excellent season, he's now an "Icon" - can't be long until he's a legend. 1. Jon Pagola - AMLC - Revelled in the attacking midfield position in our new 4-3-1-2 system.History:

Next Season:Fulfilled last year's target to the letter, and came very close to exceeding it, so I'm going to be boring and say I just want a better points total. I could say Champions League qualification, but that really depends on the performance of other teams - we would have qualified with our points total in 2 of the last 4 seasons.
Forza Messina!

The Squad: 2023
GoalkeepersNicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Earned his contract extension with some good displays last year when Muslera's form tailed off.Juan Jose Godoy - GK - Argentina - £6.75m signing agreed last summer, will be first choice for a good few years.Filippo Pedersoli - GK - Italy - Looks a decent prospect, definitely only number 2 material for the moment.

DefendersJose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Portugal - Was captain a lot last season as Turon didn't make the team, did well.Rocco Signore - D/WBR - Italy - Played a bit in the Italian Cup, but probably could use more football this time round.Remi Thouvenin - DL - France - Lost out to Contento last year, but will probably take the shirt back this time as Contento's legs start to go.Diego Contento - D/WBL - Italy - Fantastic for us last season, his legs are on the wane though.Ferdinando Leonardi - D/WB/ML - Italy - Another good prospect at fullback.Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - Not sure how he doesn't have a Dutch cap yet, he's awesome.Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Great player.Aurelien Maire - DC - France - Probably 4th choice now Egger is here.Philipp Egger - DC - Austria - Bargain at £2.9m.

MidfieldersFilippo Vitone - AMRC - Italy - Has won several callups to the Italy squad now, but still hasn't made the pitch.Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Serbia - Coming to the tail end of his career, very useful squad player.Jon Pagola - AMLC - Spain - Vying for the title of our most important player with Petrillo and the centrebacks.Yohan Sallaberry - AML - France - Retraining him at AMC as he's such a good player we have to fit him into our 4-3-1-2.Mauricio Martin - D/DM/MC - Argentina - Quality player.Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - Spain - His usefulness is running out, might have to buy a new MC or two soon.Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Argentina - Managed to placate him after his strop over Mogi last season, one of our best players.Victor Amoruso - MC - Italy - Does a lot of good without actually providing much in the way of goals and assists.Nenad Lukic - MLC - Serbia - Provides quality and experience, not to mention a balancing left foot in our midfield.

ForwardsAbel Petrillo - ST - Italy - The main man, Aguero and Valdez may have better stats, but he gets the results.Christian Benteke - ST - Belgium - Offers something different, despite the fact he's on the wane.Walter Aguero - ST - Argentina - More injury problems mean he still hasn't got going. He's finally managed a full preseason so hopefully that'll help.Gonzalo Valdez - ST - Argentina - Great understudy for Aguero.Fininho - ST - Portugal - Another free transfer to follow Valdez into the club, more for his potential than a current first team player.LeaversMauro Vigorito - GK - Italy - One of my first signings at the club, amazed he's lasted this long. Finally retired after 3 seasons without a competitive appearance.Fernando Muslera - GK - Uruguay - Simply declined far too rapidly to continue at a Serie A club.Justin Turon - D/WBRL - France - Had to sell him due to a surplus of fullbacks, never did anything wrong though, good player.Arturo Zapater - DC - Spain - Hasn't left permanently, is off on loan.Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - AMR/ST - Gabon - Didn't make much impact at the club, getting on now.OverallAnother season where not too much was changed, but the young nature of the squad means we'll improve anyway hopefully. Perhaps it'll be enough for a Champions League place - I think that depends a lot on the other clubs we're competing with though. I'd be surprised if Juve were as poor again, so one of the top 3 will have to have a much worse season if we're to break in.

Last season we made a big step in moving towards a Champions League qualification spot. This season, we decided "sod that, we're going for the title". 8 wins from the first 8 matches meant we were the early pace setters, though a surprising number of teams were keeping pace just a handful of points behind. Our first slip-up came conceding a last-minute equaliser away at Udinese, which we followed up with a more commendable draw against Inter.

A win against rivals Catania got things back on track, before another slightly disappointing draw away to Bari. By this time, our fierce rivals Palermo had overtaken us at the top. 3 more wins and a disappointing loss to Juventus left us equal on points with them going into the final league match before the winter break - home versus Palermo.

Despite being without 5 first choice players we brilliantly took the lead through Pippo Vitone, before they fluked an equaliser and held out to make sure they were top at Christmas. A bit of a shame, but I'm thrilled with the way things are going this season - we have a healthy 7 point advantage over the side in 5th place, and are on course to smash through last season's points total.

As for Europe, a narrow aggregate win over Austrians SV Mattersburg saw us through the qualifiers, to yet another group with an English giant at the head of it - this is really getting old! This time it was Chelsea, with FC Zurich and Metalurg Donetsk the inevitable also-rans. A disappointing 3-1 loss away at Stamford Bridge kicked off the campaign, before 4 successive victories against the lesser sides meant we qualified easily.

We needed a 2-0 win over Chelsea at home in order to win the group, as they'd managed to win the rest of their matches too. In almost a carbon copy of the Palermo game just 5 days previously, we took the lead only to concede a flukey equaliser. We go through in second again, and I can't wait to play Valencia in the next stage again. Oh wait, it's actually Sevilla this year. Huge difference.

Story of the Season:Serie A - 3rd, Qualified for Champions LeagueAn amazing start to the season brought us 8 wins from 8, putting us top of the pile for the first time ever! We slowed down a little with a few draws, before finally succumbing to our first loss 2-0 away to Juventus. A draw against close rivals Palermo meant we went into the winter break equal on points with them, but 2nd due to goal difference.

I was hoping we might keep pace with Palermo for a while, but it didn't really happen. They were relentless, and we kept dropping the odd point to fall back from them. Eventually the teams behind us caught up, and we dropped into third, and briefly fourth. Nevertheless, we secured Champions League qualification with a fantastic 2-0 win to avenge our earlier first defeat against Juventus.

Exertions in other competitions meant we ran out of steam a bit after that, but an absolutely stonking 8-1 win on the final day against AC Milan put us back up into 3rd, a significant result as we wouldn't have to negotiate a (potentially tricky with our relatively poor coefficient) qualifier next season.

Coppa Italia- Runners UpEuropean football meant we skipped the qualifiers again, and we a relatively easy run, despite facing Serie A teams early in the competition. Bari and Parma were dispatched to set up a tantalising semi final against former parent club Livorno. We took advantage of their lowly current standings to book our place in the final.

AC Milan lay in wait, the first real test of the competition. An early goal knocked us off our stride, and despite coming back into the game strongly, we couldn't find an equaliser. We would avenge the defeat later in the league, but I would really have loved that first top-level trophy.

Europa League - Semi FinalA qualifier against Austrians SV Mattersburg was academic, despite the close 2-1 scoreline. An uncannily similar path to our last two Europa League campaigns then began. First the group headed up by a massive English club (Chelsea this time, with Metalurg Donetsk and FC Zurich making up the numbers), which we qualified second from (4 wins against the lesser lights, a loss and draw against Chelsea), only to come up against Spanish giants (Sevilla rather than Valencia this time).

Where it differed is this time we blew Sevilla out of the water, a 4-1 aggregate score slightly flattering, but nevertheless a deserved result. Fellow second-placed-in-the-group-stage AS Saint-Etienne were dispatched by the same scoreline, before another English behemoth in Man City stood in our path. A narrow 3-2 away leg loss was avenged in style, a 5-0 demolition the least we deserved.

Zenit St. Petersburg were the only thing between us and a place in the final, and we did our best to make it easy for them, shipping 3 soft goals in Russia before a solitary reply gave us hope for the second leg. I sent the players out demanding they repeated the Man City performance, but it didn't quite happen. A late Vitone goal sparked hopes of a shock win, but we didn't really deserve it.

Zenit went on to beat Atletico Madrid in the final, so at least we lost to the eventual champions.

Transfers - £9.95m Loss
Had to return to spending a little this year, mostly due to the decline of all 3 of last season's. Of the 3, only Ravaglia was kept on, as Juan Jose Godoy came in as number 1, with Filippo Pedersoli as a young prospect. Philipp Egger was a bargain at £2.9m, and offered proper competition to my established pairing of Tulino and Kooiman for the first time in ages. Justin Turon was the only significant out, the former captain not getting enough first team football for his, or my, liking.

5 Most Important Players:
5. Walter Aguero - ST - Finally starting to fulfill his potential with a relatively injury-free season. I think there's still more to come.
4. Victor Amoruso - MC - Best ever season for us, getting into double figures for assists. 3. Rene Kooiman- DC - Again, sort of representing the whole defence as they were excellent, but he was the star. 2. Abel Petrillo - ST - No matter the level he keeps on getting us the goals, can't wait to let him loose in the Champions League. 1. Jon Pagola - AMLC - The attacking midfield role has been the making of him, top class.

Next Season:So close to winning 2 trophies, but we came away with nothing in the end. Still, Champions League qualification means we can really kick on now, hopefully. I think a good season would be to retain our Champions League status, whilst not coming last in the group stage this time round. If we finish 3rd and end up in the Europa League again, I'd love to win it.
Forza Messina!

DefendersJose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Portugal - Excellent fullback.Rocco Signore - D/WBR - Italy - Did well when called upon, probably won't ever be quite Loureiro's quality though.Remi Thouvenin - DL - France - Saw off the aging Contento to regain his first team place.Ferdinando Leonardi - D/WB/ML - Italy - Not quite up to standard in all likelihood, but is ok for backup.Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - Has taken Italian nationality, so might get a callup for Italy before Holland.Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Kooiman's partner in awesomeness.Aurelien Maire - DC - France - Doesn't play much, probably quite fortunate as he's not that good.Philipp Egger - DC - Austria - Excellent backup for the two first choice centrebacks.Arturo Zapater - DC - Spain - Don't know if I can afford him the gametime to get good enough, might have to send him on loan again.MidfieldersFilippo Vitone - AMRC - Italy - Finally won his first Italy cap, and went to Euro 2024 with them.Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Serbia - Less and less gametime these days, still worth having around.Jon Pagola - AMLC - Spain - Amazing player.Yohan Sallaberry - AML - France - Hoping he'll finally master the AMC position this season.Mauricio Martin - D/DM/MC - Argentina - Great player, probably underused as we don't have a DM anymore.Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - Spain - This is probably his last contract with us, not quite up to standard.Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Argentina - Usually our most defensive of the 3 in the 4-3-1-2, plays the role nicely.Yann M'Vila - DM/MC - France - Ex-Barca veteran brought in for Champions League experience.Victor Amoruso - MC - Italy - Can't be far off a cap himself.Nenad Lukic - MLC - Serbia - Experienced hand in the midfield.Maamoun Hasan - MC - Sudan - Adding more quality in depth to the midfield, probably overpaid for him at £10m but we needed someone.

ForwardsAbel Petrillo - ST - Italy - I'll keep him here until he retires, love the little guy.Walter Aguero - ST - Argentina - Finally started to pay back the transfer fee last year.Gonzalo Valdez - ST - Argentina - Great backup striker.Fininho - ST - Portugal - Did surprisingly well, hopefully he'll continue to improve.LeaversDiego Contento - D/WBL - Italy - Leonardi needed more game time and he was getting on, so I let him go.
Christian Benteke - ST - Belgium - Getting on, and we're pretty well off for strikers.OverallAdded more quality in depth in midfield, hopefully I can rotate more effectively this season to maintain the level of performance into the last couple of months of the season. Should be enough to carry us through to our targets this season, probably not enough to go any further though really.

How finely poised is this group? Last games are us away to Hapoel and Man Utd at home to Lyon. Any of the top 3 could either win the group or be knocked out depending on the results on the final day! I'm hoping for a win over whipping boys Hapoel, with a Utd-Lyon draw to send us through top

After a 100% record in preseason, we were in best possible shape for our opening match away against defending champions Palermo. We still went down 2-0 though, but at least we were straight back to winning ways afterwards. Despite the odd failure in front of goal (all 4 of our draws by the end of the year were 0-0s), we were doing well and taking some great scalps - a 3-0 away to Inter was my favourite.

All that left us where we were this time last season - 2nd place, in touching distance of the leader. This time it's Juventus, Palermo having slipped back to 6th. The difference this time is we have just a 3 point margin over 5th place, where last year it was 7 points. We could just as easily win the title as end up in the Europa League, but either way it should be exciting!

Speaking of Europe, our maiden Champions League campaign at least had a degree of familiarity about it - we were drawn in a group with English giants Man Utd. The other two sides were Lyon and Hapoel Tel-Aviv, making up quite a tough introduction to Europe's top table. That was emphasized when we were stuffed 3-0 away in Manchester in our first game. A few nerves were settled in the next game, at home against the Israelis, as we destroyed them 4-0.

A defeat away to Lyon followed, as it looked like we'd probably end up fighting for the Europa League spot - but an amazing 4-2 win in the return match featuring a Petrillo hattrick gave us belief we could maybe sneak 2nd spot. To do that, we'd need to get something from Man Utd at the San Filippo, and we did - a historic 1-0 win set up an epic final day. Any of the 3 of Man Utd, Lyon and us could just as easily win the group as go out, but with us playing whipping boys Hapoel and the big boys playing each other, we were in the driving seat in terms of securing qualification as a win would send us through no matter what.

We got the win with an amazing 4-0 demolition of Hapoel, but Lyon had a man sent off early and went down 2-0 to United, ending our chances of winning the group. The draw gave us Porto in the next round, a stern but winnable test.

Story of the Season:Serie A - 4th, Qualified for Champions LeagueWe started well again, despite an opening day defeat away to Palermo, and kept pace with the early leaders. Some excellent results, such as a 3-0 win away at eventual champions Inter, put us in a strong position at the turn of the year, just 2 points off the top.

We continued challenging well into 2025, despite some poor results - mostly due to problems finding the back of the net - not one of our strikers got into double figures, a terrible statistic for a team trying to win the title. We requalified for the Champions League with 3 games left, just 4 points off the top spot.

The matches we had left were away to mid-table AlbinoLeffe, followed by a home match against relegation-threatened AC Milan, and then a potential title decider away to Juventus on the final day.

We blew it. Lost against AlbinoLeffe and AC Milan despite taking the lead in both games, then played out an irrelevant 0-0 with Juventus, Inter having already taken the title.

Coppa Italia- Runners UpHaving lost the final to AC Milan last year, we were hoping to go one better this time around. A penalty victory over Serie B high-fliers Padova set up a tricky Quarter Final against big rivals Palermo. Somehow we beat them 2-1, sending us to another tricky tie - a two legged Semi Final against eventual champions Inter.

A narrow 2-1 loss in the first leg away from home gave us hope going into the second leg, and we didn't disappoint, with a fantastic 3-1 victory taking us to our second successive Coppa Italia final.

Juventus lay in wait, a tough test. Like last year, we conceded early to ruin my plan of keeping it tight, but unlike last year we managed an equaliser through Mario Quiroga. Juventus stepped up a gear though, and we were unable to, with two more goals ending our dream of a trophy for another season. The game really showcased our failing this year, despite dominating our finishing was laughable.

Champions League - 1st Knockout RoundHaving secured 3rd place in the league last season we avoided a qualifier, something I was very pleased about, as there are some tricky teams in there. We went straight into a group that was very familiar from our Europa League days - yet another English giant as the top seeds. This time it was Man Utd, who stuffed us 3-0 at Old Trafford to give us a difficult introduction to Europe's top table.

A 4-0 home win over group whipping boys Hapoel Tel-Aviv steadied our nerves, but second seeds Lyon brought us back to earth with a narrow 1-0 win in France. At this point I thought we'd be gunning for 3rd place with Hapoel, but an outstanding hattrick from Abel Petrillo blew Lyon away in the return match, helping us to a 4-2 win.

Assuming Lyon beat Hapoel (which they did) that meant we needed something from Man Utd in the next game. An amazing performance gave us a 1-0 victory, one of our greatest nights of European football! This set up a rather interesting last day - a win for us against Hapoel would send us through no matter what, whilst a draw between Lyon and Man Utd would send us through as group winners - an unbelievable prospect 3 games ago.

We kept up our end of the bargain with another 4-0 win, but Lyon had a man sent off early and buckled under the pressure, losing 2-0.

Still, we were through to the knockout stages, and all the potential revenue that could bring. The draw was quite kind to us, with Porto probably the weakest of the group winners.

A great performance in the home leg gave us a 2-0 lead before a potentially costly away goal deep into injury time put the dampeners on the occasion. Cost us it did, with a 1-0 loss in the away leg sending us out on away goals.

Transfers - £10.35m Loss
Maamoun Hasan was the big player in at £10m, with some solid free transfers and one for the future in Negrin our other business coming in. A whole load of players we didn't need any more also went out for no money in.

5 Most Important Players:
5. Jose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Solid fullback, could have put either of him or Thouvenin really.
4. Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - A monster in the air, really compliments Kooiman's pace. 3. Victor Amoruso- MC - Is coming into his own more and more. 2. Rene Kooiman - DC - Forms a formidable base to the team with Tulino. 1. Jon Pagola - AMLC - The only attacking player to emerge from this season with any credit.

Next Season:I have some big decisions to make before next season. Do we stick with the 4-3-1-2 and hope it was just a blip that we scored so much fewer goals this season? Or do I change it around and make expensive alterations to the squad? It seemed to be a correlation between teams going 3 at the back and us failing to score this season, so perhaps I just need to find a way to play against that. Perhaps an alternative 4-2-3-1 or something. Anyway, next season I want our top 3 slot back, and I want us to get to the Champions League group stages and not finish bottom.
Forza Messina!

Still a good season mate. Seems your defence is certainly solid enough but you need to either change tactics or personnel to get more goals into your side...I think the Serie A title isnt far away now. KUTGW.

You should post players from your youth team. It doesn't have to be all of them, just the best players from each position(not every, just foward,midfield,defence,goalkeeper). Give each player a ranking like 5/10, 7.5/10 for example so we know who the best players and worst players are on your team instead on clicking on every player.

Actually I don't have as much time to spend on it as I used to, I just seem to rattle through the seasons pretty quickly! I do play it most evenings I suppose.

Originally Posted by ImOnFire15

You should post players from your youth team. It doesn't have to be all of them, just the best players from each position(not every, just foward,midfield,defence,goalkeeper). Give each player a ranking like 5/10, 7.5/10 for example so we know who the best players and worst players are on your team instead on clicking on every player.

Tough luck on losing to Porto. At least your back in UCL next year.

There's no point posting players from my youth team, they've been uniformly awful!

If you're interested in an overview of who is good and bad, then take a look at the "Squad" screenshot in my seasonal updates, that will give you the star rating of each player. I could do a rating out of 10 if people would be interested, but I honestly think I'd find it quite hard to do, and it takes me long enough to write the updates as it is!

The Squad: 2025
GoalkeepersJuan Jose Godoy - GK - Argentina - Got too big for his boots and handed in a transfer request, which I denied. Hopefully in his 3 years left on his contract he'll stop being such a baby.Filippo Pedersoli - GK - Italy - Really rather not use this guy, he hasn't developed at all. Probably my fault as I haven't been able to give him any game time, but still.

DefendersJose Alberto Loureiro - DR - Portugal - Occasional captain, very solid player.Rocco Signore - D/WBR - Italy - Deputised well for Loureiro when injury and rotation required.Remi Thouvenin - DL - France - Probably the weakest of our first choice back 4, but not terrible.Ferdinando Leonardi - D/WB/ML - Italy - Very meh.Rene Kooiman - DC - Holland - Still no international callup, surprisingly.Stefano Tulino - D/DM/MRC - Italy - Still can't believe I signed him for £775k from Serie B.Aurelien Maire - DC - France - Very average.Philipp Egger - DC - Austria - Pushed Tulino for a first-team slot last year, will do so again.Arturo Zapater - DC - Spain - Development stunted by the need for our defence to be good with such misfiring strikers.MidfieldersFilippo Vitone - AMRC - Italy - Seems to be a regular for Italy now, good on him.Adem Ljajic - AMRLC - Serbia - Getting on, but an experienced hand who pops up with an occasional goal is never a bad thing.Javier - AMR - Spain - Great prospect picked up from Real Madrid for peanuts.Gianmarco Di Donato - AMR/ST - Italy - It's a miracle! An actual prospect from our academy. I can't believe it.Jon Pagola - AMLC - Spain - Our best performer for the last few seasons.Yohan Sallaberry - AML - France - Might get a look in on the wing as I change the tactics around this season.Mauricio Martin - D/DM/MC - Argentina - Might find his services required on a more regular basis again.Patxi Rodriguez - DM/MC - Spain - Good servant, but not a brilliant player if I'm honest.Mario Quiroga - DM/MC - Argentina - Very good defensively and going forward.Victor Amoruso - MC - Italy - Getting better and better.Nenad Lukic - MLC - Serbia - Probably just over the hill now, still worth having around.Maamoun Hasan - MC - Sudan - Had a pretty good season last year, started this one injured.Albert Negrin - MC - Spain - Dubbed "the next Xavi" - could be special.

ForwardsAbel Petrillo - ST - Italy - Very quiet last season, hope he bucks up again this year.Walter Aguero - ST - Argentina - Poor last season, as were all the strikers.Gonzalo Valdez - ST - Argentina - Probably his last season with us, especially if we end up with a single-striker formation.Fininho - ST - Portugal - Scored a hattrick one game to earn his place in the team, before being rubbish all the time after that. If he were more consistent he'd be first choice.Sergio Real - ST - Argentina - I have no idea why we're having problems scoring with this guy and Aguero in the side, it's a joke.LeaversNicola Ravaglia - GK - Italy - Didn't want a new contract as backup so I let him go.Yann M'Vila - DM/MC - France - His "Champions League experience" helped him get a straight red in the first group stage game. Didn't feature much after that.OverallHaven't changed as much as I'd like, but will probably do more business in January. Should be enough to see us through til then, still haven't really decided on a system. I know it's going to have wingers and a back four, but the rest I'm not sure on.

It doesn't seem to make much difference whether I select that or not, I still find myself firing blanks quite often. It always seems to happen if we miss a few good chances in the early part of the game, so perhaps its a confidence thing.

I think I've settled on a 4-2-3-1, so I'll have Real up top with Aguero for backup. Long term plan is to retrain Aguero to AMC so he can be a playmaker, which I think is probably the best position for him looking at his awesome technical stats. It seems to get decent-ish results, but the fact that I haven't really bought any decent wingers is probably a drawback! Javier and Sallaberry are ok, but if I'm using Pagola and Vitone in the AMC position I don't really have any viable backup, since Ljajic is over the hill.

The fixtures computer kicked us off with a very tricky trio of matches, away to Napoli followed by Juve at home and Palermo away. We did well against Napoli, taking the lead twice but couldn't hang on as we drew 2-2. That proved costly as successive embarrassments in the next two games left us mired in the relegation zone.

We finally won our first league game of the season at home against newly promoted Reggina, and that sparked a climb up the table. The form still wasn't brilliant, however, until a great win in the Champions League (which we'll talk about later) sparked a run of 10 wins in 14 matches in all competitions. We finally climbed back into the top 4 with a 1-0 win in the final game before the winter break, at home against Bologna. The title is patently out of reach this season, but we can still push on to the top 3 position I was after at the start of the season.

In Europe, we faced a predictably difficult opponent in the Best Placed Playoff in Portuguese side Braga. It ended up being easier than I thought though, a 3-1 away win allowing me to play a youthful side at home. We lost 1-0, but it was enough.

This year is my 5th season of European football at Messina, and this is the first time we haven't drawn an English team in the group stage! This time we got Dortmund, last year's conquerors Porto and old foes Valencia, in what I expected to be a very tight group. We started a little disappointingly, throwing away a lead at home against Dortmund to draw 2-2 as part of our lame start to the season.

A last minute winner for Porto in the next game just made things worse, but we finally tasted victory in the third match, a 2-0 home win breaking Valencia's hoodoo over us. They got a measure of revenge in the return, with a narrow 1-0 win, before we put on the afterburners to take 2nd in the group with a 4-1 win in Dortmund and a satisfying 2-0 win over Porto. Valencia took top spot, of course.

I've had problems with tactics this half-season, moving from the 4-3-1-2 to a 4-2-3-1, then a 4-4-2, and finally back to 4-3-1-2. I think I'll probably keep switching between the latter two long term. We've already agreed the signing of 4 excellent players that will fit into a 4-3-1-2, so that's probably our main system.

Try to improve LB and midfield, you don't have very creative player, your strikers are top standard!

You have team that can win Serie A and reach 1/2 of CL with little luck!

I'm glad you're enjoying it

Yeah LB is our weak position, but I can't find any that are significantly better than Thouvenin for reasonable money. The best my assistant came up with to suggest was some guy for £17m who was only just barely better. Midfield will be spectacularly sorted in January this season, don't you worry